Criminals learning to love Canada

Lax security and easy immigration rules are earning us a reputation as a hideout haven

By Colin Nickerson / Boston Globe

As police closed on his vast smuggling empire in China's
Fujian province, Lai Changxing last year made a hasty but plush
escape -- grabbing a first class seat on the next plane to Canada.

There, after entering the country as a "tourist,'' the criminal
kingpin plunked down $1.8 million for a luxury home in British
Columbia and was back in business.

No one knows where fugitive Boston mobster James J. "Whitey''
Bulger went to ground when he vanished from the view of law
enforcement in 1995.

But Canada is a good bet.

The FBI recently issued "Wanted'' posters printed in French for
distribution in Quebec, where Boston's most notorious gangster is
believed to have stashed sums of cash in safe deposit boxes.

Canada is fast gaining an international reputation as a good place
for criminals and terrorists seeking a permanent hideout under a new
alias -- as may be the case with Bulger -- or just a temporary base
of operations, as with the alleged Islamic radicals arrested in last
year's "millennium'' bomb plot against the United States.

"Canada is almost a welcome wagon for crime,'' said Antonio
Nicaso, a Toronto expert on organized crime.

"Here there is a much lower risk of detention or prosecution than
in the United States or Europe.''

A recently-declassified report by the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service indicates that Canada is now home to more
international terrorist organizations than any other nation. More
than 50 groups, from Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers to the agents of the
shadowy Osama bin Laden, use Canada as a hideout and even a staging
ground for terror attacks.

The report cites a "disturbing trend as terrorists move from
support roles, such as fund-raising and (weapons) procurement, to
actually planning and preparing terrorist acts from Canadian
territory.''

This week a new report on international crime prepared by the CIA,
FBI, and other U.S. intelligence and enforcement agencies warned
that Canada has become both a refuge for Asian mob figures and a
significant North American gateway for Chinese mafia: "The United
States faces a growing threat from Chinese organized crime groups
using Canada as a base from which to conduct criminal activities
that impact our country,'' stated the report released by the White
House.

Big bucks make for an easier life on the lam. But Canada is a soft
touch even for destitute criminals trying to lay low.

James Anthony Martin, now 52, headed to Canada after allegedly
gunning down a Harvard student in a drug deal gone wrong in
Cambridge, Mass. The murder occurred in 1976.

For nearly a quarter-century, Martin drew welfare and other social
benefits in Montreal while following a career of armed robbery,
petty theft, and transporting narcotics that resulted in at least 16
arrests. But authorities never seriously probed his past even though
neighbours knew he had a "troubled'' background in the U.S.

Geographic proximity makes Canada an obvious bolthole for U.S.
criminals. But the country's indulgent immigration policies are
turning it into a destination of choice for desperate characters
from around the planet.

Canada's relatively loose border controls and immigration policies
-- coupled with a long coastline that is not heavily patrolled --
are also making it a newly-important port of entry for drugs and
illegal aliens whose ultimate destination is the United States.

Analysts say Canada's lackadaisical approach to illegal immigrants,
generous social welfare programs, and seriously underfunded law
enforcement agencies represent a more or less open invitation to
criminals.

When an Algerian with terrorist connections was arrested entering
Washington state last December with a trunkload of bomb materials,
it made for headlines around the world. But Ahmed Ressam had been
living in Canada since 1994, securing welfare benefits -- and
notching up a Quebec criminal record -- even though he'd been caught
entering the country illegally with a false French passport.

Fugitive a `tourist'

Lai Changxing certainly wasn't seeking welfare benefits when he
arrived in Canada in August 1999, describing himself as a simple
tourist. China has a another description, calling him the country's
"most wanted'' fugitive.

Among other things, it is alleged he corrupted thousands of
officials, high and low, with gifts of cash and women to protect a
crime ring that smuggled $6 billion worth of vehicles, crude oil,
weapons, and computers into Fujian province. Lai's fake passport
wasn't spotted when he presented it at Vancouver's international
airport. Neither did anyone pay attention when he paid cash for a
posh suburban home. Or when he was banned from casinos in British
Columbia for loan sharking. Or when he partied with Asian crime
figures near Niagara Falls, dropping as much as $1,000,000 a night
at gaming tables.

Finally, after 15 months of apoplectic protests by Chinese
officials, Canadian authorities apprehended Lai on Nov. 23, but they
haven't sent him back.

The hope was for a quick extradition, but the case has become an
international soap opera, with Lai loudly -- if improbably --
claiming to be a refugee not from justice but ``political
persecution.''

There's little doubt that if Lai is returned home he will face a
firing squad (14 lesser cohorts have already been executed).

And that leaves Canada in an embarrassing situation. Ottawa likes
to boast of its unyielding stand against capital punishment. But
officials are also desperate to combat the country's new image as an
easy sanctuary for undesirable immigrants -- and a place where even
absurd refugee claims can stretch for years and even decades.

"Canada doesn't want to be a haven for criminals,'' said Irene
Arseneau, a spokesperson for the Justice Ministry.

"We welcome immigrants, we welcome refugees, but only when they
come through the front door.''

No one ever checked

It's not clear what door James Anthony Martin used to enter Canada
after allegedly shooting dead a 28-year-old man in 1976. But he
certainly made no attempt to follow the straight and narrow after
taking up illegal residence in Montreal -- he was charged with 31
crimes over 24 years, and even served a stint in Canadian prison.
But apparently no one thought to check whether the misbehaving
American might actually be wanted in the U.S.

It took a dogged "cold case'' investigation by police to finally
bring Martin back to Massachusetts last January on a murder charge.

Meanwhile, there is no proof -- but strong suspicion -- that one of
America's most sought-after criminals, Whitey Bulger, slipped into
Canada in 1995, skipping Boston just days before federal indictment
on 18 counts of murder, as well as numerous charges of extortion and
drug-running.

Bulger, now 71 and suffering from heart disease, has criminal links
to a Montreal gang, and he is thought to have stashed unlaundered
cash in safe deposit boxes in Toronto and Montreal.

In 1987, for example, Bulger tried to board a plane for Montreal at
Boston's Logan Airport with a bag containing an estimated $100,000
in $100 bills. He fled the scene.

There have been at least two "unconfirmed sightings'' of the
Massachusetts mobster in Quebec and Ontario.

"We know he's travelled extensively in Canada, but we are
following leads all around the world,'' said Stuart Sturm, the FBI's
legal attache to the U.S. Embassy in Washington, stressing that the
search for Bulger is being closely co-ordinated with Canadian
police.

December 22, 2000